“As though we are dead”: Unable to vote, Myanmar poll robs Rohingya of hope
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Mohammad Yusuf voted in almost every Myanmar election from 1974 until 2010 – the last time ethnic Rohingya were allowed to vote in the country he still calls home after fleeing three years ago. When Myanmar on Sunday holds its second democratic election after decades of military rule, Yusuf will be […]
UN expert airs human rights concerns ahead of Myanmar vote
Geneva, SwitzerlandAP An independent human rights expert working with the United Nations is calling on Myanmar’s government and military leadership to stop persecuting supporters of the opposition ahead of Sunday’s general election. Thomas Andrews, a former US congressman from Maine who is the UN special investigator on Myanmar, called for free and fair elections but […]
Canada’s Trudeau retains power in election but will have minority government
Montreal, CanadaReuters Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals held onto power after a closely fought election on Monday but were reduced to a minority government that will need the support in parliament of a smaller left-leaning party. The vote showed a deeply divided country with the defeated Conservatives winning the popular vote, while a resurgent […]
India’s Catholic bishops urge date change for general elections after Holy Thursday scheduled as a voting day
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India has asked the country’s electoral commission to change one of the dates on which the country’s upcoming general election will be held, saying that scheduling voting in some states on 18th April, the day before Good Friday, could cause logistical problems for Christians. The electoral commission has announced that […]
Church leaders in Kenya call for rejection of violence in lead-up to general election
Church leaders in Kenya have called for the nation’s citizens to “reject every provocation to violence” in the lead-up to the country’s general election early next week. A joint statement from the National Council of Churches in Kenya and the All Africa Conference of Churches said that “it is the responsibility of every Kenyan, individually and […]